Curt Schilling made it
sorta, kinda official yesterday that he plans to challenge Sen. Elizabeth Warren for her Massachusetts Senate seat in 2018. Schilling
said
“I’m going to run,” with the genuinely odd and genuinely gendered caveat “but I haven't talked to Shonda, my wife.
And ultimately it's going to come down to how her and I feel this would affect
our marriage and our kids." Seems like something one might run up the ol’
flagpole in-house before announcing to the world on-air, but I’m a stickler for
equity in relationships like that.

That a sports figure is thinking about transitioning
to politics, or is deeply political while in their prime, is nothing new on
the political left or right. Gerald
Ford first made a name as a Michigan Man, Tom Osbourne
went from Nebraska head football coach to Republican congressional representative,
and Ali,
Kaepernick,
and USA
women’s soccer, to name but a few, have been deeply political as star
athletes—sometimes at great personal cost.

But Schilling’s declaration for the Senate is a special sort
of something. American men are more
likely to run for office with thinner
resumes than women and are less likely to seek encouragement from
others to run. Women are more likely
to stay in lower elected offices/roles for longer periods before seeking higher
office and backing from their party, friends, and/or power brokers is often vital
in getting women to run.

One could say that men who seek election are a bit more
arrogant and over-confident than women. I don’t know if I’d go that far in characterizing the research’s implications
for most male office seekers, but for Schilling, it is spot-on.

Witness 38’s most recent resume lines: Bankruptcy
for a company he founded and steered, being sued
and settling
with the state of Rhode Island over a $75 million loan guarantee offered
to his company and backed by taxpayers, and now refusing
to apologize for largely defaulting. Schilling
was fired
by ESPN for sharing anti-transgender memes after being previously placed on
suspension for retweeting a meme
depicting Adolf Hitler over text reading “It's said only 5-10% of Muslims are
extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How'd that go?"

The 2004 postseason was something, all right, but the above do
not a quality candidate make.

Surely Schilling sees in Donald Trump’s candidacy a model
for his own alt-right ascension. He either
forgets, feels it irrelevant
given what he offers, or lacks the political acumen to truly consider what the fact that Hillary Clinton is winning Massachusetts by 26
points means for his candidacy. Yes,
it will not be a presidential year in 2018, and, yes, we have a Republican governor. But Charlie
Baker is a new public-management guy and a social moderate who ran on the
mantra of fiscal responsibility (not bankruptcy), refused to endorse Trump, and
signeda transgender rights bill. Not
so Schill-esque.

And Warren? Recall she handily
beat another Republican in Scott Brown, who was far more beloved by the Republican Party than Schilling and Brown too had a certain athletic, good old boy appeal. Her favorability in Massachusetts is over 60 percent and Warren is a Democratic Party all-star (see what I did there?) meaning the
party would invest heavily in securing her Massachusetts win. She has also barnstormed the country in favor
of Democrats running in tight races and the party, as well as those candidates,
would be very willing to return the favor.

It’s certainly the case that Congress and the Senate need a more
diverse set of professional backgrounds. And it is most definitely the case that new political blood should
seek office. Long periods of single
party control are not good for any state.

But it is also the case that men and women who run for a
higher office, on average, differ in when they think they are ready. And for Schilling, the resume is not
just thin—it’s filled with a $75 million bankruptcy at taxpayer expense, an anti-just-about-everyone
social media presence, and a public firing. So in announcing his Senate bid under these clouds, and by his own admission
doing so minus his family’s input, Schilling puts electioneering gender differences
into stark overdrive.

Schilling’s decision to run against Warren then is
akin to her demanding the ball in Game 6 of the 2004 American League Championship Series. No experience
and better options were on the mound.